§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether, having regard to the fact that the brothers Natu have been kept in close imprisonment without charge and without being brought to trial from the 27th November last, now that all grounds for the apprehension that they would impede the execution of the plague regulations have ceased, the Government of India will take steps for the immediate trial of these men or will promptly direct their release?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIAI have already stated, and have to-day repeated in reply to the Question of the hon. Member for Banffshire, that the detention of the Sirdars Natu will continue until the Government of Bombay is satisfied that the public tranquillity and order will not be endangered by their release. I have no intention of interfering with the discretion of that Government; but I will add that I am not aware of the reasons which the hon. Member has for stating that the apprehension referred to in his Question has ceased to exist.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI shall be pleased to give the hon. Gentleman the information. Does the noble Lord remember that on the 18th February last he stated that the reasons for the detention of these brothers were in the main a fear that their release might lead to difficulty in carrying out the disease regulations in Poona? Is that true or not?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIAEven if it be so, I do not think the assertion the hon. Member makes in his Question is justified by it.